Gauchos Top Cal Poly in Dual Meet

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- UC Santa Barbara defeated Cal Poly in a pair of dual track and field meets on Saturday with the women coming out on top with 118 points over the Mustangs' 81 and the men edging ahead 102-100. The event was hosted on the Westmont Track and will be the last home meet of the season.
Besides dominating in total team score, UCSB also broke several personal records throughout the day.

Beidi Beer ran 10.68 in the 100m dash and placing second with Jacob Vowels following in 10.88 for a new personal best. Beer and Vowels also competed in the 200m where Beer set a new personal record with his time of 21.82. Vowels ran a 22.34 for third place. Snita Ashford and Megan Vyenielo went one and two in the women's 100m dash with Ashford running 12.12 and Vyenielo running 12.75. The women's 200m field saw four Gauchos finish in the top four to earn major points. Kelsey Bolden finished first in the 200 with a time of 25.80 while Amanda Rodriguez came in second with a time of 25.87. Danielle Fessenden also competed in the 200m and set a new personal record time of 25.99. Ryan Martin competed in the 400m for the first time all season after focusing mainly on the 800m. Not only did he finish first in 47.13 but that also becomes his new personal best. Jordan Scott finished second with a time of 48.63. Lauren Kodama had a great race in the women's 400m finishing first in 57.32 while Camille Petty crossed the line in 57.94 and good for second place.

In the distance races, Rusty Parker finished second in the 800m in 1:53.31 and Austin Goodheart clocked in 1:57.02. Justine Diaz brought home another win for the women with her 800m winning time of 2:10.09 and Cassie Brooker added to the total points with her time of 2:11.72 and second place. Tyler Brady ran a new personal record in the 1,500m and clocking in 3:48.65. Juan Paredes finished the 1,500m in 3:55.38. Amanda Moreno ran 4:30.64 and Callie Mulgannon ran 4:30.80 to break her own personal record in the 1,500m. Adding to the list of personal records that were broken on Saturday was Bhavik Kanzaria who ran 14:49.66 in the 5,000m and earning second place. Michael Wysocki's time of 14:56.09 also was a new personal best and crossing the line in third. On the women's side, Breanne Strenkowski and Danielle Moreno racked up big points for the women with Strenkowski's time of 17:03.11 and Moreno's time of 17:27.92 and her new personal best.

Sean Johnson set a new collegiate best in the 110m hurdles and finished in 14.81 while Derek Masterson had a stellar day in several events against Cal Poly. His 110m hurdles times of 15.61 was a new personal best and his win in the long jump at 22'4.25" was the farthest in his career. Symone Evans finished second in the 100m hurdles as well as adding her time of 15.00 to her new collegiate best. Jessica Bragg finished third and ran 15.13. André Piñon added crucial points for the men with his win in the 400m hurdles in 51.91 and Alvin Go finished in 53.97. Aislynn Mueller matched Piñon with her own first place performance and ran 1:02.48 while Emily Gordon finished second in 1:03.01. Anthony Masci also brought home another big win for the men with his winning time of 9:17.47 in the 3,000m steeple and new personal best. Doug Whichard would also run a new personal best in the 3,000m steeple with his time of 10:00.04. Andrea Jacobs continued to break her own personal record this season with her new collegiate best time of 10:44.65 in the 3,000m steeple. Ari Selix would finish in second place in a time of 11:06.76 and helping give the Gaucho women a comfortable lead against Cal Poly.

Mitchell Haag jumped 6'8.75" in the high jump for first place and Max Villalba placed second and also cleared the same height. Helena Montin won the high jump for the women as well by clearing 5'5" and Maureen Ajoku cleared 5'3". In the pole vault, Taylor Duncan and Derek Masterson both cleared 15'1" to tie for third place. Duncan's mark is a new personal best. Duncan would also compete in the javelin throw and threw 127'2"Jen Brown cleared 10'8" for the women in the pole vault and earning fourth. Arthur Dyson III jumped 21'8.25" in the long jump to earn third alongside Masterson's first place mark. Maureen Ajoku also competed in the long jump where she won the event with her farthest leap at 19'4.75" which becomes her new personal best and ties the school record set by Katie Kramer in 2007. Veronica Gines jumped 18'1.75". Karlon Johnson earned first place in the men's triple jump and his farthest jump measuring 46'4". Arthur Dyson III also competed in the triple jump to earn second with a wind aided mark of 44'9.75". Symone Evans placed third in the triple jump with her mark of 36'11 while Ajoku jumped 36'9.5".

In the throws, Jean Lightfoot won the shot put event with her toss of 46'10.75" while Alex Francis threw 43'5.75" for a new personal best and adding to the total women's team score. Chad Seymour threw 47'8" and Julian Samson's farthest mark was 45'10.5". Samson competed in the discus as well and earned second overall with a mark of 155'10" and Seymour's mark of 150'11" to place third. Jean Lightfoot broke a personal record this meet in the discus with her toss of 163'3" and earning first place. Kathleen Guzman would place second with her farthest mark reaching 135'7". Adam Shigem threw his way to first place with a toss of 164'9" in the hammer throw and Samson throwing 163'8" for second. Two wins wasn't enough and Jean Lightfoot added one more in the hammer with her first place mark of 172'10". Alex Francis also competed in the hammer and earned second with her toss of 158'11" as well as the javelin where she threw 113'10" and her new personal best. Jen Melton threw 114'0" and her best all season. On the men's side, both Masterson and Duncan also competed in the javelin throw and Duncan threw 127'2" while Masterson threw 190'2.5" for second place.

The Gauchos hit the track next weekend at the Occidental "Oxy" Invitational while the multi-event athletes head to Irvine, Calif. to compete in the Big West Multi's which are part of the Conference Championships.

The athletics rivalry between UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly has grown in recent years, and now the schools are putting their competition to good use through the Blue-Green Rivalry. The Blue-Green Rivalry Series is sponsored by the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. The rivalry's track and field points will come from the league championships meets in late-May.

The Blue-Green Rivalry is based on the results of the 16 common sports that the schools compete in and winner will be decided prior to the end of each school year.

The creative angle of using games to promote the campuses' sustainability and recycling efforts is the first of its kind in college athletics. To learn more about sustainability efforts at UCSB, click here.